Monte FFA brings home state champions

Above, l to r: Katelyn Gregory, Tiffany Heishmann, Courtney Petersen, Colleen Johnston and Abbi Nelson will compete at Nationals for Ag Comm after becoming State Champions at FFA State Convention on Tuesday, April 24.

Below: Back row, l to r: Advisor Rick Swenson and seniors Nathan Wheeler, Natalie Wheeler, Brynna Steele, Shena Bryan, Alexis Ferguson and Bridgette Moore and front row, l to r: Kendra Cranston, Breanna Johnson, Kaylin Hansen, Aly James, Carrie Graham and Kendra Doty gather after accepting their Iowa Degrees at FFA State Convention on April 24.

by Bridgette Moore

On Sunday, April 22, approximately 30 Montezuma FFA members left to go to the Iowa State FFA Convention, which was held at Iowa State University in Ames. Teams, parents and other members helped the competitors practice for countless hours for their event.  Three of four competing teams received State Champion titles.

The Conduct of Meetings team performed on Monday, April 23. In this competition, students go through the proper way to run an Official FFA Meeting. The team consists of a president, vice president, sentinel, treasurer, reporter, secretary and an advisor. They received a gold rating along with claiming the title of Iowa State Champions. 

The team consisted of Clara Johnston (president), Vincent Bushong (vice president), Steve Kopp (advisor), Brittany Bender (secretary), Alex Brenner (treasurer), Cheyenne Peters (reporter) and Mackenzie James (sentinel). The alternates were Kaylene Corbin, Mikey Lyons, Jack Little and Noah Sykes.

Business Management competed on Tuesday, April 24. Each member takes a test that has math problems that would show up in everyday business. This was the second group to take the State Champion title and gain a gold rating. 

The team was made up of AJ Long (first place individual), Tyler Swenson (second place individual), Camden Watson (third place individual) and Norman Martin (sixth place individual). They will be competing at the National FFA Convention in October, which will be held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. This year marks the 19^th straight year that the Montezuma FFA has taken the state champion title in this group.

Agriculture Communications also completed on Tuesday. In the competition, each member has a certain job: press release, radio broadcasting, proof reading and web design. They have to make a presentation that they present with information about their topic. This year the topic was “We Can Make a Difference” and was about the Montezuma Food Pantry. They received a gold rating and the title of Iowa State Champions. 

Katelyn Gregory  (first place individual, radio broadcaster), Abbi Nelson (second place individual, web designer), Courtney Peterson (fourth place individual, press release), Colleen Johnston (proof reading) and their alternate, Tiffany Heishman, were the members of this team. They will also be competing at Nationals in October.

Ag Market Plan competed on Tuesday as well. In this competition, the team comes up with a Market Plan for the business. This year’s market plan was about Hill Top Farms, which is run by Dick Swenson and Rick Swenson. The team talked about how to improve the swine semen production. Nathan Wheeler, Kendra Doty and Aly James are on the team. They will also be competing at Nationals.

Ag Sales competed on Tuesday. All teams were asked to sell a fertilizer called Preen. They are judged on how well they executed the sale and a test. The team consisted of Karah Hansen, Masiey Ranfield, Kaylee White and Julie Audas. The alternates were Danelle Kleitsch and Abby Wedgewood. They received 11^th place.

Seniors who completed their SAE (Supervised Agriculture Education) received their Iowa Degrees on Tuesday. Those seniors are Shena Bryan, Alexis Ferguson, Kendra Doty, Carrie Graham, Bridgette Moore, Breanna Jonhson, Natalie Wheeler, Kaylin Hansen, Brynna Steele, Nathan Wheeler and Aly James.

Congratulations to all the teams and recipients!

JH Braves track takes first

by Andrea Farrington

Monday, April 23, the junior high boys track team competed at Eddyville-Blakesburg. The team finished in first place with a total of 177 points. Pella Christian followed behind them with 119 points and North Mahaska placed third with 110 points.

Kaleb Kriegel, Brody McKeag, Travis Lewis and Skyler Romberg started off the meet strongly by placing first in the 4x800 relay in 10:53.31.

The shuttle hurdle relay team featuring Shane Helm, McKeag, Lewis, and Dakota Strong also placed first with a time of 1:17.03.

 Next on the list was Bobby McCulley in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.51 seconds, placing first and Carson Losure earning a close second with a time of 12.79 seconds.

In the 1600-meter medley, Ryan Maschmann, Strong, Zach Townsend and Joel Crantson took third place with a time of 4:53.97.

Tyler Geiger ran the 400-meter dash and took second place with a time of 1:02.56, while Skyler Romberg earned fifth place with a time of 1:05.28.

 Grant Johnson,  Helm, Logan Price, and Losure made up the 4x200 relay and placed  first with a time of 1:49.25.

Seth Cranston came in fourth place in the 1600-meter run with a time of 6:11.84.

Price placed first in 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.53 seconds. 

McCulley and Geiger took first and fourth place respectively in the 200-meter dash.

In the 800-meter medley, Helms, Frank Gillum, Townsend and McKeag took second with a time of 2:07.62.

Maschmann placed third in the 200-meter hurdles with a tie of 32.72 seconds.

Kriegel placed first in the 800-meter run and Geiger, McCulley, Johnson, and  Gillum placed first in the 4x100 relay with a time of 53.86 seconds.

Finally, the 4x400 relay team made up of Helms, Maschmann, Lewis and Romberg took third place with a time of 4:28.38.

In field events, Tyler Thompson took second in shot put with a throw of 32’ 1” and Cole Corbin took fourth place with a throw of 30’ 8”.  Dominique Ward earned second place in discus with a throw of 90’ 1.5”.

In the high jump, Logan Price placed third with a jump of 4’ 10”, while Jacob Shaver earned fourth with 4’10”.

The long jump included Losure earning second with a jump of 15’ 10” and Townsend gaining third with a jump of 15’ 7”. 

Coach David Brondyke said, “Our boys ran extremely well. I am proud of all of their performances and hope to continue to improve for our next meet.”